1. The seeds of the destruction of the foundations of our country, via the creation of the welfare state, international policybodies and the inculcation in and infiltration of the academia and media by leftism and leftists were planted by Communists, Communist-sympathizers and fellow travelers before and during the FDR administration

2. The anti-Communists through poor marketing and tactics, and the efforts of anti-anti-Communists in academia and the media were defeated in the court of public opinion, the effects of which continue to paralyze all those attempting to protect our freedom today, in particular the so-called counterjihadists

3. As a result of the socialists winning the war of ideas heretofore, Americans by and large are no longer able to process facts (let alone separate facts from opinion) using logic and reason in order to maintain any semblance of the Republic which was bequeathed upon them. The narrative is paramount — facts be damned (see Martin, Trayvon)

4. All of which lead me to believe that we have converged with the socialists in the cultural, political and economic spheres. Stated differently, we won the Cold War and lost the peace

Look at the major news stories of any given day in any mainstream publication, and tell me if these points can be disputed.

I believe Diana West’s thoroughly researched work is at once an eminently credible and bloodcurdling. Even if you disagree, everyday life in 21st century America shows us that we have succumbed to the ideology of leftism, to the detriment of Western Civilization and all of mankind.

Having just read Diana West’sAmerican Betrayal, I am convinced more so than ever that our country has in fact lost the Cold War — a previously nascent theory that I believe is evidenced with each passing day.

For West shows with thorough and convincing evidence that Communists not only infiltrated our government (and I mean every important agency in shockingly high positions including the top of the OSS and just under Roosevelt in the person of Harry Hopkins) in droves dating back to the ’30s, but manipulated our leaders into enabling the Russians to take Eastern Europe during WWII, and provided them with the very technology and supplies via Lend-Lease that allowed them to efficiently run their totalitarian edifice while massacring innocents during and after WWII. Did you know that the U.S. forced the repatriation of millions of people in exile back to the Soviet Union following the war? Were you aware that American troops were captured by the Russians and never returned to us, under the willful blindness of the Roosevelt administration who chose not to pick a fight with Uncle Joe?

These and numerous other shocking revelations come out of West’s book (and seem to replay themselves in books by defectors such as Anatoliy Golytsin, Ion Pacepa, experts such as Paul Kengor and Trevor Loudon and in individuals such as KGB agents Yasser Arafat, Carlos the Jackal and potentially the Russian-trained Ayman Al-Zawahiri), but most fundamental is the notion that despite these facts existing in historical archives and despite those handful of brave whistle-blowers who tried to expose these atrocities, anti-Communists were demonized and discredited (just as today anti-jihadists are pilloried) because the interpretation of facts trumped and continues to trump the facts. Put differently, as a result of the cultural Marxism so elemental now to our society, individuals when faced with truth and logic are unable to process events objectively or with prudence — the narrative takes precedence over all else.

Which brings us to the Trayvon Martin case.

As I am sure you have seen, there are folks that want to lynch George Zimmerman because it fits so well the narrative of the white (er Hispanic) oppressor and the black oppressed. It fits the narrative of the cowboy gun-owner and the innocent target. It fits the narrative of the redneck state versus the discriminated-against minority. And isn’t it in the very narrative that exists that you realize the collective American mind is thinking in Marxist terms, with every issue defined in terms of class, race and power?

Americans, when faced with the facts of the case which in my view simply cannot support a conviction, regardless of whether you think George Zimmerman should have ever stepped out of his vehicle, have chosen to attack this man in a lynch mob for what he represents according to the many Big Lies proffered over the last 50 years. Facts simply do not matter. The narrative is most important above all else. Zimmerman evil. Trayvon good.

While a jury of the man’s peers acquitted George Zimmerman, of course all of the other meaningful stories affecting millions of Americans lives, liberty and property (or pursuit of happiness if you prefer) have taken a backseat. Is this not representative of the Leftist mentality — besides the tactic of distracting people from crucial issues by dividing the country on the basis of race and class — the true injustices of this administration are considered minor cracked eggs necessary to make the Leftist omelette while wedge issues are of paramount importance.

Political correctness, a form of cultural Marxism, may still kill George Zimmerman, presumably, under the banner of social justice, if the “hood” is to get to him. Political correctness has put millions of American lives in danger when it comes to our policies and views towards Islam, and the self-righteously suicidal actions they have driven wherein our governmental agencies consult and consort with Muslim brotherhood members and their web of front groups.

Most of all, because of the continued and constant political correctness, free speech has been stifled and the American mind has been re-wired such that the American people are wholly unable to grapple with how serious the problems are. Major swaths of the economy are socialized in a mixed fascistic/socialistic economy with some market features (i.e. an anti-American economy), our enemies are multiplying and at war with us and we do not even realize that we are at war nor who we are at war against, and ostensible conservatives continue to get duped on a daily basis, unequipped to counter their opponents, unclear in their convictions and unable to understand the scope and size of the problems and how far behind we are — by my estimate at least 75 years.

So let me state it quite clearly. The Left, broadly, and Islam, are allied against our country and more broadly Western Civilization, and we are faced with the challenge of awakening our population to such problems when this kind of statement itself would be deemed preposterous by 99% of our population. It is our job, no less our sacred duty to figure out a coherent ideology and robust long- and short-term strategy necessary to defeat the opposition, or go down as hard as we can trying. We need to re-wire the American mind if we are to save the country.

Standing in line waiting for my morning oatmeal at the cafe beneath my midtown office, I noticed something astounding a couple of weeks ago. There was a woman standing in line reading Glenn Beck’s The Overton Window. I sought to make eye contact with her, if for no other reason than to give a thumbs up to this anomaly of a lady. Regardless of your views on Mr. Beck, seeing someone…anyone in Manhattan with a potentially conservative view is a site to be treasured. However, when the woman saw me looking down at her book, she quickly closed it, put it in her purse and turned away, startled that I knew she was one of the silent majority.

This is the climate in which we coastal conservative infiltrators live on a day-to-day basis. We have to be careful with the books we read in the cafe, the topics we bring up at the cocktail party and the jokes we crack at the office. The fear stems from the intolerance of liberals, who are incapable of functioning in a world consisting of anyone but those who think. speak and act the same as them. And frankly, I do not know how much longer I can be tolerant of such intolerance.

Perhaps it is my jaded view having lived in New York and New Jersey my whole life, but I have started to come to the conclusion that our mindsets are so antithetical that we are simply unable to co-exist in any meaningful way.

For liberals believe that we are our brother’s keeper — that by the power of decree some people should be able to reach into the pockets of others to provide for themselves. Liberals believe that certain people in society should be able to make decisions for others for their own good. Liberals believe that wealth created in the private sector is a mere byproduct of greed and graft. Liberals believe that all religions and visions of morality are equal. Liberals see every issue in terms of egalitarianism, race and class.

I find such a world view abhorrent. It pits some people against others by design. It is based on envy, arrogance and the imposition of force. It robs man of his individualism, his humanity and his soul.

Barack Obama represents this worldview in its most extreme form, albeit buttoned up and with a soothing smoker’s voice to hide its revolutionary nature in relation to this country’s bedrock principles. It leads to supporting terrorists in the Muslim Brotherhood taking over Egypt; it leads to giving the nuclear secrets of our allies to the Russian thug government; it leads to the crushing of our economy, and the demonization of its most crucial constituents.

Given that the natural end to the socialist society is one of mass poverty, constant threat of attack and overall demoralization, without any notion of morality or justice, (but rather with their perversion), I find it quite difficult to not hold this personally against all of the useful idiots — friends and foes alike who support this kind of world.

How in good faith can we love our neighbors who seek to plunder us, knowingly or unknowingly threatening our safety and whose policies are going to make the lives of our children far more crass? How can we feel sympathy or compassion for someone who supports Islam in word or deed when its whole history has been marked with bloodshed, debauchery and hatred — and its adherents continue their conquest today. How can we support people that wish to suppress our speech and our G-d-given rights?

Politics is supposed to be a separate sphere from our personal lives. But increasingly, the politics of the left encroaches on every aspect of our personage. This is what happens in a collectivist society, where so many of our countrymen have been duped into parroting, believing in and legislating based on effectively Marxist principles. Increasingly, I wonder what is to become of the irreconcilable differences between us and them. I can no longer give their hatred and contempt for us my sanction.

As has been the wont of the progressives, they can’t help but find a word not to corrupt. To my pleasant surprise, most recently Americans rightly called out Barack Obama for his contortion of one of these words: “investment.” Those who have repudiated this President’s socialist agenda were incensed that the President barely paid lip service to addressing our fiscal ills while proposing a host of pie in the sky programs, all centering on leading the world with the panacea of clean energy jobs. I could go into a long diatribe about the ridiculousness of emphasizing bullet trains and solar panels while our enemies grow increasingly strong and the true unemployment rate continues to hover north of 15%. But that’s for another time.

What I would like to emphasize is that so-called “investment” is not just a problem because it represents more spending. There is a fundamental problem with all government spending, and this is that it represents other people spending your money for you. Anecdotally, it is akin to the way a teenager drives a car he buys versus one bequeathed to him by his parents. Believe me, I know.

And like the reckless teen, the politician will rarely have the interest of those who entrust him with the fruits of labor at heart. In the case of the taxpayer, while you want to be happy, healthy and prosperous, all but the most principled politicians solely want to be re-elected. Re-election requires buying votes. When politicians “invest” in various projects, even if they are the savviest capitalists, caring for nothing more than seeing the best return on the taxpayer’s capital possible, their spending could at the very best represent a diversion of resources. Almost universally, the result is certain parties getting payoffs, and you and I getting plundered.

Government spending will always be suboptimal to the extent that while you labor for your income and choose to spend it out of your own volition and for the things that you, the individual value, directing businesses to provide the goods you want in the quantities you require, the government spends for the collective — amorphous masses of voters who will never see that the X months of the year that they must work to pay the government goes toward things like rebuilding the Gaza strip or paying the salary of the son of a politician in his cushy, unionized job.

The individual takes responsibility for what he spends because he earns it. The politician has no such responsibility, and his incentives in spending are often diametrically opposed to yours. But to the groups he spends on, the politician’s charitable investment is invaluable.

To the extent that we delegate to the government the power to spend money on our behalf, within the strictures of a Constitution properly understood, I propose a simple standard for evaluating the merit of public benevolence. Does federal spending benefit one group at the expense of another? If yes, then you cannot in good faith accept such a taking.

This principle may seem removed from reality today. Spending is out of all proportion to anything our forefathers could have imagined. Sure they had debt and currency crises, but they did not share a behemoth welfare state, nor did they ever shift such massive private burdens onto the back of the public. But I believe that there will come a time when this system will reset, and we will have a choice between a centrally planned banana republic and a capitalist system made up of responsible individuals who seek to produce, live in peace and maintain the most limited government possible because there will be no alternative. But if we can’t start to have these fundamental conversations now, how will we ever have a cogent message after the state implodes.

Most important, one must recognize that it is not just that government spending is economically harmful. Except in the narrow areas circumscribed in the Constitution, it is immoral. It represents your neighbor reaching into your pocket and taking money from you, with legitimization simply because a politician plays the middle man.

Perhaps we can all take solace in the fact that regardless of what happens during the next 10 or 20 years, there will truly be economic and social justice. Those who have driven us to this point will pay a price for their tyrannical will to dictate our lives, as their grand experiment fails as it has always and wherever it has been tried. So let us not fret. With knowledge that what has to happen will inevitably happen, let us stride ever more confidently and arm ourselves with truth because it will set us free.

Suddenly the American public is shocked. Perhaps there is no economic recovery. Perhaps the One really does favor Islam.

Democrats and Republicans shake their heads and wonder, how could our President pursue such divisive and unpopular policies? What is the rationale for this President’s decisions? Is he incompetent? Is he naive?

The answer is none of the above.

I have said before and I will say again, Barack Obama does not share the values of Americans. His vision is completely anathema to an America based on individualism, private property rights and Judeo-Christian morality.

When one argues that Barack Obama is merely mistaken in his economic program, they completely discount the notion that he knows exactly what he is doing and that he has been 100% successful in achieving his policies and their intended ends, means and ends that any objective viewer would realize were insane. After all, an economy is nothing more than the collection of mutually beneficial voluntary exchanges of labor and the fruits of labor. Anything that impedes one’s labor, or the trading of its fruits is necessarily bad for the economy. Hence, almost everything a government does to try to stimulate an economy, impeding the natural spontaneous harmony of such a system necessarily postpones any recovery.

We were in major trouble with unsustainable public and private debt prior to this President, coupled with a completely insolvent financial system, a destined to fail monetary system and numerous stagnant businesses sucking up economic resources. A real financial restructuring would have taken significant time, and even the most “fiscally conservative” President and Congress would not have been able to move enough roadblocks out of the way to make this recovery painless or quick. I question whether or not anything could change the direction of the economy in the long run, save for a collapse that would force us to let the free market work and liquidate the welfare state. But this President ensures that there will not even be a chance for recovery for many many years, regardless of who the next President is.

And it is all by design.

If you are Barack Obama, your plans are working perfectly. You are driving the economy into the ground, fueling turmoil in the Middle East, weakening our nuclear defenses and supporting the enemies of civilization, and you are lining the pockets of your constituency and pushing us towards such great crises that a society already addicted to government may be forced to its knees wrongfully begging for an even greater paternal one. If you doubt my argument that the American people are still not awake enough to cause any meaningful change, consider that for all the talk of a backlash against this government, if you look at the Republicans that will take over Congress, almost none of them them would truly be willing to do the things necessary to make our government solvent, break the chains off of our private sector and defend us against our enemies and their abetters, starting with calling them by name, not a tactic like terrorism.

This brings us to Barack Obama’s stance on the Ground Zero mosque. Months ago I argued that Islam is not a religion in the traditional sense. I argued that as Islam is a theo-political system, it should not deserve the same Constitutional protections as other religions with a strictly spiritual component. In effect, to support Islam in this country would be to support a political system incompatible with ours, and intolerant of our pluralistic Judeo-Christian society. To support Islamic institutions would be to weaken America’s freedom, not strengthen it. And this is because Islam and America cannot coexist because America is a threat to the Ummah; us infidels would have to be converted by the sword or forced to live as second-class citizens under Islamic law, like Spaniards once did in Cordoba. Hence the Cordoba Initiative.

Yet Barack Obama consistently sides with Muslims; makes it a point to bow down to Muslims at every turn and has since the start of his Presidency and throughout his public life. He also studied in the madrass as a child, has had the backing of major players in the Muslim community during his academic and political career and attended Reverend Wright’s church which parrots the same narrative as Imams worldwide. His true colors showed when he made the Ground Zero mosque a national issue by supporting it. Howard Dean has gone on record as questioning what Barack Obama could have been thinking politically. Of course he found it to be a political disaster, lest he should care about its destructiveness on principle.

Barack Obama had to know the firestorm he would create, but he did not care. He could not help himself when it came to something he truly believed in, jumping to say something unpopular to the American people but instinctive for him. Just like he did not care about creating fertile soil for economic growth, just like he does not care in my opinion about defending American lives as reflected by his policies. And when he speaks and says inflammatory things that make political pundits shake their heads in wonder, it is because he is showing who he is, and where his passions lie. This President is a principled politician, but he supports principles that are crushing the American people. He is a third world man who gives a second rate speech and believes in the First Amendment as a suicide pact.

This is the most destructive President since FDR, and that it is intentionally so makes it all the more demoralizing. Until more people realize this, we won’t even have a fighting chance. We are going to be poorer, weaker and less likely to ever rekindle the flame of freedom in this nation, and I fear that our differences with our political opposition will prove irreconcilable.

Liberals, progressives, socialists, statists, communists — all enemies of civilization argue all issues on the basis of moral relativism, one odious derivation of which is multiculturalism. There are many arguments for why such principles are wrong. But perhaps the most obvious problem with moral relativism and its counterparts is that from which moral relativism springs: the idea that there is no objective truth.

If there is no objective truth as the Sophists argue, then how can the statement that there is no objective truth be true? If nothing is true, then how can the assumption be made that it is true that there is no such thing that is truly inherently good or inherently bad, or that it is true that there is no culture that is truly better than any other culture? To argue in favor of moral relativism or multiculturalism requires a belief that there is objective truth; this is a conundrum that Leftists cannot argue away.

Since all Leftism stems from a fallacious premise, all of its aspects must be fallacious. If only anyone would think it through, perhaps we could right this ship.

A patriotic and prescient reader, Doug W forwarded me the below timely piece that he wrote as a student at 22 (the same age as me) in 1985, and recently revised:

Declaration of Independence – 2.0

Monday, June 14th, 2010

When in the Course of Human Events, it becomes necessary for Individuals to Reorganize the Political Bonds which have connected them with their national government and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and Superior Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Revitalization.

We hold these Truths to be Self-Evident, that All People are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain Unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty of the Spirit & Mind, Ownership of One’s Own Productive Efforts, Freedom from Intrusive governments, Economic Freedom of Choice, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these Rights, governments are instituted among Individuals, deriving their Just Powers from the True & Informed Consent of the Governed, that whenever ANY form of government becomes DESTRUCTIVE to these Ends, it is the Right of the People to Alter or to Abolish it, and to institute New Government, laying its Foundations on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such form, as to them shall seem MOST likely to effect their Individual Liberty, Economic Freedom & Security, Physical Safety and Spiritual Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for Light and Transient causes; and accordingly all Experience has shown, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, While Evils (like government encroachment into the private affairs of individuals & businesses and embarrassingly poor government administrative, operational and financial performance) are sufferable, than to Right themselves by Abolishing the forms of government to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of Government Abuses of Power, Usurpations of Individual FREEDOMS, Increasing Financial Extractions, Regulatory Suffocation, and Bureaucratic Ineffectiveness, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under Absolute Economic, Social, and thus Political DESPOTISM, It is their RIGHT, it is their DUTY to thoughtfully identify select and install truly Honorable Classically Liberal guards for Their Future Economic, Individual (and thus Societal) Security, and Ecosystem Preservation.

Such has been the patient Sufferance of the People of the United States; and such is now the necessity which constrains us to Restore Our Former Systems of Government. The History of Congresses & Presidents – 1933 to the Present – is a History of repeated Federal Government Expansions, Excesses and Ineptitudes, all having in Direct Result the establishment of Oppressive Economic Control over the People of the United States. To Prove this, let FACTS be submitted to a candid WORLD.

MEMBERS of CONGRESS and PRESIDENTS (1933 to the Present):

-Have, with the best of intentions (and sometimes without), continually tried to Artificially manipulate the Economy of the United States. This manipulation – designed for the purposes of bringing about improved living standards, greater societal cohesiveness, and Domestic Tranquility – Resulted in: an unjustifiably High Level of Taxation, a Schizophrenically Paradoxical and Complicated Tax Code, Astronomically High Levels of Bankruptcy Threatening Government Debt, Increased Risk of Government Debt Monetization Induced INFLATION, Increasing Levels of Government Intrusion into the Lives of Our Citizens, Greater Amounts of Suspicion, Antagonism and resentment between members of different Socio-Economic Groups, and – MOST IMPORTANTLY – a Stagnation of Our Natural Socio-Economic Interaction. All this has been done by Federal Officials who have no stated or inferred CONSTITUTIONAL Authority to operate the Federal Government in such a fashion and who lack sufficient understanding of THE ECONOMIC LAWS OF THE UNIVERSE. These Financial & Economic WEAKNESSES have left Our Union exposed to all the Dangers of Hollow Propagandistic Slogans and Economic, Psychological and Societal Convulsions.

-They have created a situation which has subjected Us to a form of government alien to: the Ideals, Intentions, and Goals that formed Our DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE; fueled the Fires of Our AMERICAN REVOLUTION, and are the very Essence of Our Nation’s Birth;

-They have diluted the strength & meaning of Our CONSTITUTION by passing thousands of obscure and complicated pieces of legislation; thus effectively abolishing Our Most Valuable LAWS, and altering fundamentally the form of Our Government from the WISE Designs of the Original Architects of the Government of the United States;

-They have unjustly declared themselves invested with the Power to legislate for Us in All cases whatsoever. Congress with its Inglorious Plethora of committees and sub-committees AND the Executive Branch with its unchecked executive orders, innumerable departments, agencies, commissions, councils, services and offices, work together to actively “HELP” the People of the United States Live THEIR LIVES; the result of this Ungodly collaboration has been an unprecedented proliferation of laws, regulations, and taxes, which have combined to make it Mathematically Certain that even the most Honest Individuals, businesses and local governments amongst Us will break a good number of Federal Dictates;

-They have created a Multitude of new government agencies, commissions and departments and sent hither swarms of faceless distant bureaucrats to Harass Us and TAX OUT OUR SUBSTANCE. Our alleged representatives have told Us that We must make do with Less Money because they WANT – without genuinely attempting to adapt the government to less revenue – MORE OF OUR MONEY; We are expected to accept – in a Slave-like Fashion – the unspoken fact that WE THE PEOPLE of the United States serve one purpose relative to the Federal Government – TO PAY, Unquestioningly and Involuntarily, for the Services Provide to, the Aggravation Inflicted on, and the Economic Instability Forced upon Us by the Federal Government;

-They have – by using Socio-Economically Divisive Rhetoric, Simplistic and Vague Campaign Slogans and Speeches, Confusing & Equally Meaningless Statistics and by placing party politics and political gamesmanship ABOVE Our Nation’s True Current and Future Needs – incited the development of Factional Divisiveness with Our Society;

-They have created Oceans of DEBT which threaten to Drown the Happiness of Future Generations of Americans and with this DEBT, they have backed themselves into a Financial and Political corner – from which the only logical long-term escape -given their past Taxing, Financial, & Operational Performance Record- will be Higher Tax Extractions & Inflationary Debt Monetization. This monetization will bring forth a Tidal Wave of Inflation; and this Inflation will result in an Unrestrained Destruction of our Wealth and paralyzing distortions of economic activity. Paper Money will – as it has in Our PAST – “Pollute the Equity of Our Laws, Turn them into Engines of Oppression, Corrupt the JUSTICE of Our Public Administration, Destroy the Fortunes of the Millions who have Confidence in it, Enervate the Trade, Husbandry, and Manufacturers of Our Country, and Will Go Far to DESTROY the MORALITY of OUR PEOPLE;”

-And they have – in general – behaved in a manner totally Unworthy of Solemnly Sworn Stewards of a GREAT & FREE ECONOMIC POWER.

This Documentable pattern of Knowingly & Wantonly Shattering the American Dreams of Individual Economic Self Determination and National Prosperity, for reasons of personal political ambition, financial greed, foolishness, and/or weakness of will power, CANNOT BE JUSTIFIED. And for their parts in this Historically Criminal Act, Members of Congress and Presidents – whether active participants or passive acquiescers – WILL NOT BE FORGIVEN by the People of the United States or by the Posterity of the World.

In every stage of these increasing Economic & Regulatory Oppressions, we have PETITIONED FOR REDRESS in the most humble terms; Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury and Restrictions. A Federal Government, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is Unfit to Protect and Govern a FREE PEOPLE.

We, the Citizens of the United States of America, Appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of Our Intentions, wish to peacefully restore the Limited, Focused and Just scope of the federal government and reestablish national solvency. We further request our state and local representatives to assist us with the realignment the Federal Government of the UNITED STATES in accordance with the Precepts contained within Our Original DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, Preamble Objectives & Laws contained within Our Original CONSTITUTION, and Principles of Sound FINANCIAL and OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT. Thus Establishing Financial, Economic, and Environmental Conditions conducive to allowing our Citizens to Achieve the Lives they dream of based on their own inspiration, abilities, and determination. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of Devine Providence, We mutually pledge to each other Out Time, Abilities, Full Effort, and Our Sacred Honor.

This is a revised version of part of a college economics paper on the socially disruptive dangers of a central Government-Gone-Wild in a distant potential future (which seems to be Our Present) America. I wrote this on the night of September 16th, 1985 as a way of venting my frustration with the fact that the U.S. Senate was raising the Federal Debt Limit to $2 TRILLION ($2,000,000,000,000.00). At the ripe old age of 22, I thought this event was a disaster (joke was on me). I haven’t read this in almost 20 years. Given our current economic and political situation, I think its content holds up pretty well. I hope you enjoyed it. By the way, the Federal Debt Limit is being RAISED to $14.3 TRILLION ($14,300,000,000,000.00); That’s $47666.67 for Each American, all 300,000,000 of us. Plus we as a Nation have a ZERO PERCENT SAVINGS RATE and We (America) are borrowing 1.5 TRILLION a Year ($1,500,000,000,000.00 Per Year or $4,109,589,000.00 per day or $171,232,000.000 Per Hour or $2,853,881.30 Per Minute) From CHINA, O.P.E.C. Countries, RUSSIA, and everyone else we can hit up to finance our spending binge. PLUS, the U.S. Government has “OFF-BUDGET / IMPLICIT LIABILITIES of $54.3 TRILLION ($54,300,000,000,000.00) see GAO-08-241CG – that’s another $174,450.98 Per Person. NOW, Add that to your credit cards, car loans and mortgages and do you really think we’ll ever see a Social Security check that’s actually worth anything?

This document is (was) designed to be a late-20th Century reflection of the precepts contained within the original UNITED STATES DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. It is intended to provoke constructive thought among members of the general population, the academic community, the business community, the U.S. Congress, the Judicial Branch and the Executive Branch. It IS NOT meant to be considered a policy statement of ANY individual or group(s) of individuals.

All I might add to Doug’s piece are that the tensions spoken to are as old as the Republic itself, starting with the debate between Jefferson and Hamilton on the size, scope and purpose of government. Moreover, it touches on the age-old battle between the state and sovereign man. The first major expansion of US governmental power in my view was not in 1933 but during Lincoln’s Presidency.

In addition, blame must be laid at the feet of the citizenry as well. We have condoned government tyranny for any number of reasons. We have elected these representatives, and most importantly allowed socialist ideas to defeat capitalist, individualist and moral ones. The politicians reflect the people, and while I would not want to besmirch our people, we are all at fault for where we stand today. True, man is flawed, and ultimately his institutions will reflect this fact, but the loss of a once great nation largely over the last century was no fait accompli.